[Thread] May 15, 2007, PWG DDT4. World championship match, El Generico (c) versus Kevin Steen.

This is a case study in how the chemistry between the wrestlers and the audience can affect a match, because for whatever reason, this crowd was Not Into It.

Maybe it was that it was the end of a 3 hour show? But when I looked up a review on 411Mania the reviewer mentions that PWG crowds tended to be unfriendly in 2007.

Someone needs to put together an oral history of PWG so I can quickly find out what was up, I'm just saying.

The crowd is sluggish this night, even when Kevin immediately starts the match with an apron powerbomb (and Generico adds a bit of a hop to make sure he sprawls dramatically into the audience).

There's polite applause and scattered boos for even the most dynamic of moves.

The lack of involvement for the champion and challenger seems to start to get to Kevin. It's intangible, hard to explain, but he doesn't seem to be enjoying his heeling.

It's impossible to capture in a gif, but there's a raw edge to his exchanges with the audience. A few of them heckle him. He calls them "pieces of shit" and worse. It just doesn't feel good, somehow.

He goes for the old standby of trying to rip off the champion's mask,. but even that doesn't seem to get the crowd excited. They're mostly not mean, they're just not very interested.

It's obvious some of the crowd are trying to reach out and connect, but it's just a really heavy, unbudgeable atmosphere. I've been in crowds like that and it's hard to shift it once it settles in.

There's a vague, but very real, feeling that the wrestlers are having to work to keep themselves centered and focused on the match. Here Kevin takes a moment to collect himself a bit, looking frustrated.

And it's a shame, because of course it's a really good match! The 411Mania review mentions--correctly!--that the same match in Reseda in 2011 would have been a classic. Generico suffers beautifully, Kevin's gloating is on point as always.

Kevin's skid across the ring here to sell that successful tornado DDT!

OR THIS MOVE, where Kevin leaves the turnbuckle before Generico comes to rest on the mat, filled with arrogantly sublime confidence that they'll work out the specifics of the landing in the fraction of a second as he comes down.

The end of the match is simple and spectacular: Kevin decides to taunt Generico by doing Generico's finisher to him, but can't complete the pin.

Generico responds by doing KEVIN's finisher to him.

He struggles a bit (that paddling at the air!) but is good enough to make the pin and keep his championship.

It's a good match, but the first two-thirds is so strange and uncomfortable. It's like watching two incredibly skilled dancers try to do a tango while wearing galoshes.

They'll have better matches in PWG--some of their very greatest! This one is weighed down by a weird mismatch of wrestlers and audience and a generally bad vibe. It's fascinating to watch them try to work through it, but so frustrating too.